Now that we’re all indefinitely confined, you’d think I’d have tons of extra time to write. But, that’s the thing about writing, the urge never comes when it’s convenient. This isn’t the first time I’ve said this: I feel the most inspired mid-day, mid-week, mid-work project. And, this is why none of my musings get recorded once my daily task list is complete. My career requires me to be creative for most of the day, which, unfortunately means I have little creative capacity to blog. On a broader scale, this got me thinking about how nothing is ever convenient. I promise I’ll get to the upside.

The elephant in the room – the state of the world – is in total panic. I choose to protect my physical health by social distancing, washing my hands, and limiting my exposure to the public. I choose to protect my mental health by turning the channel when the news does an hour segment on how Everything Is not Awesome.

We just renovated our office and I was looking forward to enjoying that new space. Inconvenient.

I already feel lonely and was just starting to be ready to socialize again. Inconvenient.

How is anyone supposed to keep up their fitness goals when everything is closed? Inconvenient.

When I really thought about what’s making me so anxious in all of this, it’s that I don’t have access to all of my typical coping mechanisms – let’s be real: distractions – to stop me from worrying about what’s going to happen next. For example: Going shopping for clothes, trying on clothes, spending money on clothes.

I’m forced to think about things I usually try to avoid. I saw a meme this morning and it so accurately captured my current state:

I laughed, and then had a calming thought. Maybe it’s The Universe saying, “For your convenience, I’ve issued a mandatory retreat. Please use this time to carefully think about where you’ve been, where you’re going, and how incredible you’ve been at imagining an amazing life.  And don’t forget to enjoy your creations along the way. Thank You.”

It’s lovely that I get to work from home in this beautiful apartment all day without having to shower! Convenient.

Zoom and Skype and FaceTime and WhatsApp were created for this. I’m actually spending more “time” socializing with my friends because we’re making time to be together! Convenient.

Stress is lessening my insatiable appetite and those YouTube ab workouts are really good! Convenient.

Now, those are some thoughts I can enjoy waking up to.

❤